


A Collection of Souls

by chaoticrandomness



Category: The Book Thief - Markus Zusak, ハートキャッチプリキュア! | Heartcatch Precure!
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Gen, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticrandomness/pseuds/chaoticrandomness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Death visits a few Heartcatch Precure characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Collection of Souls

**o. death.**

Contrary to popular belief, I do not only exist in dark times. Instead, I am a constant witness to humanity.

 

I can tell you a story of the little town of Kibougahana, if you wish to hear it.

 

** *** Featuring *****

 

A cellist

 

A fairy

 

A scientist

 

A doll

 

A sick man

 

Some promises

 

Some Pretty Cures

 

And a pair of battles to save the Earth

 

* * *

 

  
  
  


**i. sora hanasaki.**

 

The cellist’s soul was sitting up.

 

I’d heard plenty about Sora Hanasaki before I met him, as my path to his soul forced me to go through his immediate family.

 

***** What I Found Out *****

He was a cellist.

 

He left behind one wife, one son, one daughter-in-law, and one granddaughter.

 

He was always more concerned about his wife’s death than his own.

  
  


As expected, the adults cursed me, wondering why I had to come for such a good man. I wondered the same thing as well.

 

I wonder the same thing every time I come for someone who doesn’t expect me.

 

His granddaughter, on the other hand, didn’t really understand what was going on. Or why none of the grown-ups were chastising her for not saying a thing. Or who the strange guy walking towards her grandfather’s room was.

 

***** On The Subject Of Children *****

Sometimes before they truly understand me, children can see me.

 

Most of the time when they see me, they talk to me.

 

They tend to think that I am very nice, and want to meet me again.

 

I never tell them who I am, and they forget me the next day.

 

Sora Hanasaki, on the other hand, was smiling even as he saw me.

 

“....it’s like they say, that the afterlife is the next greatest adventure, isn’t it?” he asked, as I began the process of collecting his soul.

 

(I do not know what the afterlife is like. I am solely their messenger, their deliveryman of souls.)

 

His eyes closed, and he began to ramble on and on about the beauty of myself, on how such a experience would’ve made a beautiful song for his cello for Kaoruko…. so I granted his wish.

 

The last thing Sora Hanasaki heard before he died was his song.

 

* * *

 

 

**ii. cologne**

 

I am in awe at what I cannot comprehend. Humans are one of those things.

 

***** A Short List *****

Other things I cannot comprehend include Pretty Cures, the tree of life, fairies, and the concept of one’s soul as a seed for the tree of life.

 

The battle for this tree of life between Yuri Tsukikage and her sister featured all of these things. I was there the whole time, waiting for one of them to fall.

 

And when the professor suddenly materialized out of nowhere to protect his younger daughter, it seemed inevitable that Yuri Tsukikage would join me.

 

(I saw her twice that day. Once during the battle, and once after it.)

 

As the soul fell into my arms, I expected it to be silver and violet and glistening with rage and anger and tragedy.

 

Instead, it was very small. Much too small, to be that of a seventeen year old girl. Sometime during the battle, the purple fairy who I saw near her had jumped to her defence, and sacrificed himself for his mistress.

 

***** Other Information I Did Not Know *****

 

I did not know that his name was Cologne

 

I did not know that he was the one who’d bestowed this duty on Yuri

 

I did not know that he’d spent the battle protecting his siblings

 

I knew nothing about him, at the time. All I knew was that his last words were a promise.

 

“Protect her! Promise me, you have to protect Yuri!” he screamed, as I tried to carry his soul to the afterlife.

 

“I will.”

 

He only let me take him away until I’d answered him. Like children, his soul was incredibly heavy.

 

* * *

 

 

**interlude: satsuki myoudouin**

 

I am overly familiar with hospitals. But patients rarely seek me out.

 

_“….you’re here? Good. Please come for me, I’ve been waiting for you.”_

I heard those words on a summer day in Kibougahana. Every single part of the town was bright that day.

 

Except for Satsuki Myoudouin’s hospital room. Upon hearing those words, I’d been instantly summoned there.

 

***** First Impressions *****

There was no light in the room.

 

It was devoid of any sign that a human being was living there.

 

If I had not heard his voice, I wouldn’t have been sure if the pale, white-haired person on the bed was male or female, living or dead.

 

I could not see his soul at all.

_“You’re here for me, aren’t you? Come on, let’s go.”_

His voice was a whisper, almost too soft to be a voice but too loud for a thought. Unlike most residents of this hospital, he wanted me to take him with me.

 

But I could not.

 

“It is not your time-” I began, before he cut me off.

 

(He was used to me, I found out later. I was his constant companion since birth.)

 

_“So what if it’s not my time to die?! I’m going to die anyways, so why prolong the inevitable?!”_

“I know that we all must die, but today is not your day. You will not die today.” I said, hoping to convince him.

 

(There was a sort of peculiar strength behind his words, one that belied his ill health.)

 

“Besides, if you take your own life, who-” I began, before he interrupted me for a second time.

 

_“My sister will. Trust me, she knows that she’s supposed to be my proxy since she was born. Before you take me, tell her that I’m going to miss her.”_

***** About A Sister *****

She saw me once, during her father’s funeral.

 

I thought she was a boy when I first saw her.

 

She tried to bring her brother along with her to play with me, but he knew who I was.

 

Like with Cologne, I promised.

 

Unlike with Cologne, I didn’t keep it.

 

* * *

 

 

**iii. dark precure**

I have always hated battles. Even in such a positive world, my sentiments will not change.

 

I carried away two souls the day the Heartcatch Pretty Cure fought against Dune. I carried away many more in the days right before their battle, when he turned the Earth into a desert and killed everyone.

 

(If you wish, I can tell you their stories. But now is not the right time.)

 

I expected to carry away Sabaku’s daughter’s soul in the midst of battle. I expected it to be red and black and gold, burning with vengeance and hatred.

 

Instead, her soul was pale green, the color of grass and mint. She felt like a little girl, and her soul was heavy with pain.

 

(Maybe that was why she sometimes saw me in her battles.)

 

“Father…. forgive me….” she said, as her eyes began to close.

 

I wanted to talk to her, wanted to tell her that she would be forgiven and that I was not evil, but I couldn’t.

 

For her father had died soon after.

 

***** Things I Could Have Done Better *****

I could have changed the nature of her death.

 

I could have changed both the nature and location of her father’s death.

 

I could have simply not taken their souls.

 

* * *

 

 

**iv. the professor**

 

I met Professor Tsukikage in France. He was studying the tree of life, only to be stabbed on his way there.

 

I was expecting to take his soul. He was expecting me to take his soul.

 

***** Planned Last Words *****

“Make sure that Yuri and Haruna….”

 

However, a pair of men whose faces I couldn’t see saved his life.

 

(More accurately, they set up the stabbing, saved his life, put him back together, and brainwashed him with a mask.)

 

I never saw him while the mask was on. I doubted that he was even human then.

 

***** A Musing *****

Do mindless puppets still have souls, or are their souls under the control of their jailer?

 

The second time I met him, it was right after he’d sacrificed himself for his older daughter. Just like her fairy did.

 

Unlike the first time, his soul was sitting up, and he was smiling, finally at peace with himself.

 

***** Actual Last Words *****

“Tell my daughters that I’m sorry.”

 

* * *

 

 

**v. death again**

That was the end of Kibougahana’s story. More accurately, that was the climax.

 

***** What Happened After *****

I followed the girls home as the desert disappeared, putting all of the lost souls back in place.

 

I did not see any of them again for a very long time.

 

I did see Kaoruko Hanasaki a few years later. Her soul was like her husband's.

 

I am still awed by the bravery of Pretty Cures.

 

I am still haunted by humans.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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